East Fork Carson River: Hangmans Run

Type of Trip: Beginner Whitewater Rafting

This Section Contains Class I-II+ Meaning beginner rapids, family friendly, and perfect for first-time rafters looking for a beautiful section of wild river to enjoy. What this river lacks in turbulent whitewater, it makes up in high desert scenery as this section is a true wilderness run. Our favorite for wilderness scenery.

As our river trip begins, beautiful pine forests and spectacular snow-capped peaks surround us. The Carson River is swift and exciting, flowing continuously through the first nine miles of a high desert mountain landscape. The second portion of the trip meanders through a changing landscape of enchanting desert scenery. Stretches of quiet river sections encourage you to breathe in the fresh air and soak in the sun.

On this section of the river:

Guided Whitewater Rafting Tour

On all of our tours are guided with a river guide in the back of the raft guiding you and your group throughout the day. The guide will be showing you how to sit in the raft, hold the paddle and teach you proper paddling techniques. The guide will be giving paddling commands interacting paddle strokes while navigating the raft through the river and turbulent sections.

Our goal is to have professional and customer-oriented guides trained to give you a wonderful river experience.

If you guide did a wonderful job and you had a fun experience tipping gratuities are an acceptable form of showing appreciation to your guide at the end of the tour.

13’ and 14’ self-bailing river rafts are used on the East Fork of the Carson River

Trip Timeline:

Arrival and check-in, Transportation to the river put-in site, Gear ourselves up with rafting gear, Safety talk/ river instruction, Hop into rafts for the day, Lunch, Second half of rafting, Load back into vehicles, Drive back to the meeting location. Say farewell.

Check-in for the trip is at 9:30 am

For the East Fork of the Carson River, we ask our guests to check in at 9:30 a.m. for the tour. It is important to arrive on time, as our Full-Day whitewater Tours can be long and include many portions. To ensure a timely day, our tours need to follow a somewhat strict time frame.

Before leaving home, double-check drive time and directions to ensure arrival on time. Road construction and slow traffic are common in Lake Tahoe and the surrounding areas during the summer months and can affect road conditions.

Notify the office if you believe you are behind schedule for the trip.

101 Old Pony Express Rd, Woodfords, Ca 96120. (9:30 am)

For Directions to our East Fork Carson River Meeting location, Click here

For this guided river rafting tour, we meet at a little old place called Woodfords, California, on Hwy 88. We have ample parking under some large shady pine trees just at the intersection of Hwy 88 and Hwy 89. We leave our vehicles here for the day and hop into one of our rafting vehicles for a short drive to the river, roughly 15 minutes away.

Rough Drive Times to Woodfords, CA Meeting Location:

6 years old

Due to the nature of river rafting trips we ask that kids are age 6 years old or above. At this age kids are able to follow guide instructions.
Whitewater rafting like any outdoor adventure activity have inherent risks involved. Unintentional swimming can be common on any type of rafting experience. We ask that all participants be able to listen and understand instructions and directions given by river guides and staff. For this reason we have our minimum age for Class II rapids 6 years old.

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• “Trip Details PDF” will be attached to the email, which contains driving directions, pack list, itinerary as well as other pertinent information for your tour. Reference the Trip Details PDF for information on getting ready for your river rafting day with us.

What to wear

Getting ready for a whitewater rafting trip is similar to getting ready for a day at the beach. Everything that goes on the river will get wet so dress in clothing that you’d be comfortable swimming.

Quick List:

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• Shoes are required that will not come off, such as strap-on sandals, water shoes, booties, and old tennis shoes.

Flip flops or Slip on type shoes are discouraged and not allowed for rafting. The reason being if you go for an unintentional swim you will loose your flip flops immediately. If you end up on shore or in a random place you need to have good footwear to get back to the rafts or to be able to walk along the shoreline.

For a more detailed packing list of items to consider wearing and packing for the trip, Click here for our Trip Details PDF, which includes a detailed packing list

Things to Leave at Home:

While on the river, everything gets wet, has the possibility to fall out of pockets and be lost in the river. We ask everyone to leave cellphones, wallets, car keys and valuables at home.

Your personal vehicles will be left unattended throughout the day. We do not recommend leaving valuables in your vehicles. While we have never experiences any theft we still want to take conservative actions with our stuff.

Our rafting bus will be attended by our driver. Your valuables can be left on the seats of our bus throughout the day as well.

Gear and Equipment we provide

On every one of our whitewater rafting adventures, we pass out the following equipment to each guest:

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  During spring and cold weather trips, we also provide at no additional cost:

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This beginner whitewater rafting trip is suitable for all ability levels due to its mellow rapids and beautiful high desert scenery. This river and section is the perfect trip for first-time rafters looking for a full day of river fun away from the crowds and hustle and bustle of everyday life through the scenic uninterrupted wilderness. With an added bonus of Hot Springs to look forward to!

Rafting the East Fork of the Carson River is a real treat! As we begin the trip, scenic snow-capped peaks surround the boats as we float east away from the Sierra crest towards the Nevada high desert. Swift class II whitewater thrills us as the current swiftly moves back and forth around the river bends.
Historical sites along the river bank blend back into the natural setting as the river flows through each bend.

Roughly nine miles down, we reach our lunch spot, a highlight of this adventure. Riverside Hot springs await. Hot geothermal water springs up from the ground and is captured in riverside tubs, allowing for a perfect setting to warm and relax as your guides set up a delicious lunch.

Fresh Veggies, Fruits and Ingredients are set out in a buffet style lunch spread satisfying our well deserved appetite.

As we finish lunch and move down stream the river slows as our mountainous scenery shifts into more high desert. We keep an eye out for wild mustang horses and geological rock structures with each passing bend.

We finish the East Fork of the Carson River trip just outside of the town of Gardnerville, Nevada. We exit the boats to our awaiting rafting bus roughly around 3:30-4:00 pm

We collect all the river rafting gear, load it back onto our rafting bus, and drive back to our meeting location in Woodfords to return you to your vehicles.
Farewells, and thank you for more guides as we finish our day back where we started.

April/ May/ June 7 days a week

During peak spring melt, the East Fork of the Carson River rises, allowing us the opportunity to raft its Gorges River Canyon and wilderness bliss. We have availability to run this river 7 days a week when the river flows are suitable.

This river is only available for a limited time frame each year. Due to its sparse availability jumping on it during May is a must and highly encouraged by all of us at Tahoe Whitewater Tours.

The East Fork of the Carson River is a naturally flowing river originating in the high alpine wilderness zones of Alpine County, just west of Markleeville, California. Snow accumulated on the high peaks during winter months melts in the Spring, flowing down from the high alpine elevation and traveling east into the Nevada dessert.

As a naturally flowing river, there are no dams restricting the river’s flow. As winter transitions into spring, the east fork of the Carson River rises with snowmelt. When there is ample water flowing on this section we take that opportunity to raft this gorgeous section.

If your schedule allows we highly encourage you to hop on this naturally flowing river as it has limited availability during the year.

Our River Guides

Our guides are the best in the business, focusing on safety and guest service as a top priority. All are extremely knowledgeable about the area’s geology, ecology and history and just love being on the river. Many with experience on rivers all over the country and across the globe, we’ll know you’ll enjoy each one as much as we do and each will certainly help to make your day on the river the best possible.

Our History Rafting the Carson River

We have been offering river rafting trips on the Carson River since 1994 when Mike Miltner, founder of Tahoe Whitewater Tours, sought out a true wilderness rafting experience.

After running river trips on the Carson River, we all still find it our favorite river to raft due to the secluded experience, high desert scenery, geothermal hot springs, and magical secluded setting.